Does emotion regulation in adolescents in residential care mitigate the association between sexual victimization and poor psychological well-being?

Abstract

Background: Childhood sexual abuse/assault has been linked to mental health problems that affect an individual’s psychological well-being. This study explores the facets of emotional regulation as mediating mechanisms in the relationship between sexual victimization and psychological well-being in adolescents in residential care in Eastern Spain. Furthermore, it examines the role of sex assigned at birth and being unaccompanied asylum seeker children as possible moderators of the mediation model. Methods: A total of 346 adolescents (34.1% girls, 65.9% boys) aged between 11 and 19 years old completed a battery of instruments. Parallel multiple mediation paths were tested to determine whether sexual victimization is associated to psychological well-being across emotional regulation dimensions. Moderated mediation models with sex assigned at birth and the condition of unaccompanied asylum seeker children were tested too. Results: This study demonstrates that high sexual victimization is associated with poor psychological well-being in adolescents in residential care through the lack of emotional clarity, non-acceptance of emotional responses, and limited access to emotional regulation strategies (β = − 0.6, 95%CI = − 1.26, − 0.09; β = − 0.38, 95%CI = − 0.9, 0.002; β = − 0.39, 95%CI = − 0.93, − 0.03, respectively). In addition, the latter indirect effect pathway was significantly moderated by the condition of being unaccompanied asylum seeker children (β = 1.46, 95%CI = 0.28, 2.84). Sex assigned at birth was not shown to be a significant moderator. Conclusions: Identifying which mechanisms of emotional regulation mediate the relationship between sexual victimization and psychological well-being in adolescents in residential care may contribute not only to reducing the psychological distress of these adolescents but also to improving the effectiveness and efficacy of the child welfare system.